Behavioural Challenges in Cats

A well-behaved pet is such a joy and pleasure to have around! But increasingly, at CVH we see dogs and cats exhibiting difficult and often unpleasant behaviour.

Common problems include inappropriate urination in dogs and cats, jumping up on visitors, pulling on the lead, digging and other destructive behaviour, separation anxiety, couch and other vertical surface scratching by cats, aggression and fear of loud noises.

What can you do?

Don’t accept bad behaviour as normal or untreatable. The sooner you become proactive about tackling your pet’s behaviour problems, the easier it will be to make changes.

First, it’s essential we conduct a thorough health check to make sure your pet has no underlying medical problems. Sometimes pain with no other obvious symptoms can cause unusual aggression in a normally quiet pet, or a urinary tract infection can lead to mistakes in house training.

Don’t forget CVH hosts popular puppy pre-school and obedience classes. These can make a huge difference to your dog’s behaviour, and will help you communicate more effectively with your pet and understand its behaviour better. Our trainer Randal Sullings is an experienced animal trainer with Local Dog Obedience Club and Delta Dog Training certificates. He is also available for one-on-one training sessions for adult dogs and their owners. Contact CVH to join one of our classes.

How can we help?

A consultation and health check will enable us to identify if your pet’s behaviour is a result of medical problems, or if we need to work with you to develop strategies to change the frustrating behaviour.

For nervous and excitable pets, we stock excellent products that are synthetic forms of dog and cat pheromones. Pheromones are chemicals secreted by animals and other species that trigger a specific response in members of the same species. For example, when a cat rubs its face on places, objects, and persons it is using the feline facial pheromone to mark its safe and secure territory. Synthetic pheromones come in two forms – as an electric diffuser or a spray – and by mimicking the pet’s natural pheromones they create a state of familiarity and security in the cat or dog’s local environment.

Our staff are experienced in dealing with many behavioural problems. Often what seems to be intractable behaviour can be improved and corrected with simple strategies you and your family can employ around your pet. Getting buy-in from everyone in the family is essential so your pet gets a consistent message.

For difficult and intractable cases, we refer pets to a Registered Veterinary Specialist in Animal Behaviour.